The sound of a heavy iron door slamming shut echoed from far away.

The moment he belatedly realized something had gone wrong, a cold blade touched his neck.

The one holding that sword was none other than Turner.

Staring at his subordinate with dumbfounded eyes, Ashar asked in a fairly calm voice.

“So it was you. The traitor.”

Then, from one of the walls, an answer to his question returned.

“Traitor is what you call someone who failed. Turner swore loyalty to me, so he’s a loyal subject.”

When he turned his head toward the sound, with a creaking, spine-chilling metallic noise, the space he’d thought was a wall in the darkness slowly revealed itself.

And inside, a man sat arrogantly, looking at him.

“Jedrian.”

“Seeing you here feels different. I searched for quite a long time. To think you were this close all along.”

At the sight of the man grinning, Ashar ground his teeth.

“Why don’t you take off that mask? Let me get a proper look at the face of the precious prince I’ve been dying to see. Now that your status has changed, will that face look different too?”

The moment Ashar, judging there was no way out, gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, the presences that had been concealing themselves instantly multiplied, and sharp sword tips revealed themselves around him.

In that moment, absurdly, a woman’s voice flashed through his mind.

‘It’s a trap!’

‘You were right. Well, I came prepared for this anyway.’

Ashar smiled bitterly and finally dropped the sword in his hand.

Clang—the sound rang sharply through the underground prison before soon fading away.

He wanted to throw himself at that b*stard prepared to die, but given the distance, his head would clearly fall before he could reach him.

He hadn’t endured until now just to meet such a dog’s death.

The chances of survival looked slim given the situation, but it was still better to watch for an opportunity than to hasten death through reckless actions.

Most of all, hadn’t she asked him?

To live.

‘I have to survive. That’s the only way I can see that face again, even once.’

“Hmm, you’re not kneeling and bowing anymore? It was fun when you were begging like a dog though.”

The moment Jedrian finished speaking, someone behind Ashar mercilessly kicked the back of his knees.

“Ugh!”

His buckling knees hit the floor with a thud.

He quickly distributed his weight with both arms, but the pain still felt like his kneecaps had shattered.

Groaning, Ashar suddenly giggled like he’d lost his mind.

“Hm? What, did one hit make you lose it?”

“Probably. Seeing how even in this situation that woman comes to mind, I guess I have lost it.”

Sure enough, the surrounding air instantly turned cold. Sensing it was Jedrian’s aura, Ashar giggled again, getting under his skin.

“Strip it off.”

Unlike his leisurely demeanor moments ago, at Jedrian’s low command, the knights who’d swiftly subdued him bound Ashar’s hands behind his back. Then they roughly tore off the mask he was wearing.

His disheveled black hair fell messily. Beneath it, blue eyes flashed viciously.

Jedrian, who’d been calmly watching like observing a beast caught in a trap, suddenly leaned forward. Then, staring intently at Ashar’s face, he frowned.

“No wonder I couldn’t find you. I was only looking for blond hair. With your hair dyed like that, how could I find you?”

Clicking his tongue, Jedrian leaned back in his chair again and crossed his legs.

Then Ashar sneered and mocked him.

“I don’t know who you’re blaming for your own stupid head.”

“Were you so smart that you went to help Morzen without knowing your own country was falling?”

“If I’d known there was a vile rat b*stard like you in Armazé, I would have prepared. A b*stard who doesn’t even know chivalry is shameless too.”

“Chivalry, my as$. Because weaklings only care about such empty formalities, countries fall. That’s why only your innocent kin died in such miserable ways. Seeing that tiny body torn apart, even my heart ached.”

“You son of a b*tch!”

The moment Ashar’s fury exploded and he tried to stand up, brutal violence struck down from behind once more.

“Ugh!”

The back muscles struck by sharp military boots contracted sharply. The intense pain that took his breath away made him pant involuntarily.

Even in the midst of this, Ashar, revealing his k*lling intent, growled like a beast.

Jedrian, corners of his mouth rising in a grin, leisurely picked up his teacup.

Incongruous with the atmosphere of the underground prison filled with the aura of death, he sipped his tea with an elegant bearing and advised as though doing a favor.

“War, you see, is about winning. To win, you can’t be picky about means and methods. I just did what was obvious, so why resent me? You should blame your stupid self.”

“Not content with ambushing a country not even at war, you dare kill royalty like beasts and now claim you’re righteous! Then how are you Armazé bastards any different from beasts!”

The furious shout rang loudly through the prison.

Watching the panting Ashar, Jedrian grimaced and picked at his ear, clicking his tongue.

“Ugh, kid. You’re f*cking loud.”

After blowing on the finger he’d used to clean his ear, he soon snorted and muttered incomprehensible words.

“People usually can’t see the dirt on their own bodies. Or do they see it and pretend not to?”

“What!”

“What do you mean what? The beast’s blood you so despise flows in your body too.”

“You lowborn b*stard, how dare you.”

“Right. But aren’t you curious why this lowborn b*stard specifically slaughtered Silvarnel so brutally?”

At the unexpected topic, Ashar’s brow furrowed.

Jedrian, wearing a languid smile matching his voice, leisurely tilted his teacup.

Soon, after setting down the cup unhurriedly, he kindly gave a hint to Ashar, who seemed frozen searching for an answer.

“Think carefully. How many kingdoms have fallen to me? But why did I execute only yours so cruelly? I could have just cleanly cut off heads like with other kingdoms’ royalty, so why go through such trouble?”

“…Ha! Don’t tell me you’re saying you had some personal grudge against Silvarnel?”

“Why assume it’s impossible? It could be true.”

In his widened blue eyes, crimson flames gradually rose.

“Are you saying that now, to settle one personal grudge of yours, you used Armazé to ambush my country and killed my kin so brutally? That because of your petty grudge, you slaughtered even innocent kingdom nobles so cruelly?”

“Who says they were innocent?”

“The nobles who died by your hand were only guilty of serving their country. You slaughtered all those innocent people and now you’re saying what you did was justified!”

“Look. This is why I despise anything with ‘noble’ in it. Whether nobility, royalty, or imperial family, they all think only their lives are precious.”

“I don’t know what your grudge is or how deep it runs, but no matter what reason you give, the blood of the innocent on your hands won’t wash away. Someday, you’ll definitely pay the price for that blood.”

Ashar ground his teeth as he poured out curses while forcibly suppressing his rage.

Jedrian, who’d been calmly listening to the curse directed at him, let out a scoffing laugh.

“Yeah, well. That’s for me to handle. Now shall we talk about what you need to handle?”

A flicker of interest crossed Ashar’s eyes.

As expected, it seemed he wouldn’t be killed immediately.

Since Jedrian had persistently chased him, he’d thought he’d be tortured until his anger was satisfied.

But the start was more anticlimactic than he’d braced for.

‘So he’s starting by getting under my skin.’

Ashar forcibly calmed himself. He brainwashed himself not to react to that b*stard’s schemes again.

He resolved several times that even if the b*stard mocked his most painful wound—his sibling’s death—again, he’d dismiss it as a beast’s barking.

He had to survive, even if it meant enduring so disgracefully. Only by surviving could he do anything again.

Then.

“Bring them.”

At Jedrian’s command, the sound of a heavy iron door opening echoed from afar.

Ashar immediately recognized what that sound meant. An ominous premonition struck him.

“Mm, it’ll take a while for them to come down, so in the meantime, let me tell you an interesting story.”

Ashar let Jedrian’s words go in one ear and focused only on the sounds echoing on the stairs.

‘Don’t tell me they all got caught?’

The footsteps coming down the stairs weren’t just one or two. Among them, dragging sounds grated on his nerves.

In that moment, Jedrian, who’d somehow approached right in front of him, suddenly grabbed Ashar’s hair and yanked it back.

“I said I’d tell you an interesting story.”

“Ugh!”

Unlike his delicate appearance, the brutal strength that pulled like it would tear off his scalp made Ashar’s eyes bloodshot.

When he glared with bloodshot eyes, Jedrian, grinning as though now willing to talk, brought up an unexpected topic.

“Right now, do you know who’s in Lauren’s bedroom?”